Japan's Dentsu evacuates Tokyo HQ after bomb threat

TOKYO - Japan’s largest advertising agency, Dentsu Group Inc, has evacuated its Tokyo headquarters after receiving a bomb threat, an internal company email reviewed by Reuters showed on Friday.

The company, in an email to employees, cited a message sent to its website, saying: “Warning of explosion at Dentsu’s Shiodome headquarters building with deadline past 7:00 am on June 7, Sunday.”

Dentsu confirmed it has closed the building due to a bomb threat, and said has notified the authorities.

Entry to the building was forbidden over the weekend, the company said in the email. Dentsu had already introduced work-from-home measures because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The company is the focus of political scrutiny having received almost US$700 million (S$980 million) in government funds to help run a coronavirus aid programme via a scheme that has been described as opaque.

The pandemic has also hammered the advertising giant as clients reduce spending, with the virus-induced delay to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, in which it has a central part, particularly painful.

Dentsu’s headquarters is in the Shiodome business district, where blue-chip Japanese firms including tech conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp and airline ANA Holdings are also based.

Its shares closed up 0.8 per cent ahead of the news.

Dentsu’s shares have gained 65 per cent since hitting eight-year lows in April but are still down 19 per cent year to date.